Loved resort we stayed on first time, should we stay again?

[dansdad]

As far as your troublesome DDP fan I have a suggestion. First make sure they realize that tips and alcoholic beverages are not included with the DDP so they will have out of pocket expenses for meals even with the DDP. Then suggest that they purchase a Disney Gift Card for the amount that the DDP would cost them and have them use that for all their meals. This way all their food is paid prior to going. We have done this in the past and I can almost guarantee that even if they use the Gift Card for tips and any alcoholic beverages with their meals, the Gift Card will still have some $$ left on it. Food is paid for prior to the trip and it cost less. Don't think they can argue with that.

 

[Zombie]

That's an interesting idea, dans dad.

I'm not sure if we can get gift cards for WDW in Canada, though. Perhaps at a Disney Store? There is one within about an hour of my hometown.

What happens to the balance left on the card you don't use? Are you able to cash it out? Or do you just end up having to use it on gifts/souvenirs in the shops before you leave?

Someone mentioned just charging it all to the Magic Band and paying the bill at the front at check out? That might be a reasonable way to do it without having a certain someone having to see/worry about the bill.

 

[ThinkTink09]

I'm in the try a new resort camp. For me, trying a new resort makes a vacation more exciting. I do have a favorite resort, but I've never regretted staying at/ trying out a new one. Each of the ones I've tried have been great in their own way!

Advice about Disney busses is a bit difficult to give. In all my visits, at all our resorts, we've been in empty comfortable busses as well as jam-packed-like-sardines busses. It all depends upon what time you're leaving the park.

My advice for the discounts is if you are 3-4 people in a room the free dining is the better deal. But that is only if you use all your credits!! My eye gets twitchy when I read about people wasting credits -LOL! If that is you, get a room only discount. If you pre-purchase Disney gift cards with x amount of money loaded on them, it will be similar to the dining plan in that you really don't have to worry about paying while you're there. Use any extra $ left on the gift cards on souvenirs at the end of your trip. Also, it is super difficult to come out ahead when buying the DDP. I would be hesitant to recommend that to anyone!

I think you should try POR and book a preferred room. You'd be close to the main lobby, food court (which is great!), and a quite pool. I love the boat to DTD, and the restaurant- boatwrights- is fab. (I will add POR is my favorite )

Have a great trip!!

 

[Eeyore's Wife]

I stayed at POR last year during the free dining time frame, but our resort did not offer free dining. Given that you did not use all your entitlements last time, buying the plan would NOT be a good deal for your family. Also, under free dining you pay the rack rate for the rooms, but we were lucked into into a 40% discount on our room.

Were I in your shoes I would book at Port Orleans Riverside and get a Royal Room. They were full of Disney touches and really felt like a Deluxe room. We had a nearby quiet pool and the river ride to Downtown Disney. The park is very centrally located and had very reasonable rides to every park. The evening entertainment from Yee Haw Bob was worth the price of the room!

Sitting out on a blanket, under the stars, in the Mansions section watching a movie with the river gurgling away was amazing.

I like Port Orleans more than several of the Deluxe Resorts.

 

[Zombie]

Looked at CBR last night after one of you mentioned it's been refurb-ed. The rooms look nicer than previously. Makes me a bit more willing to consider it again. Does anyone really recommend it? Or recommend it over CSR or POR? Again, easy busing would be our biggest thing.

 

[lustergirl]

I'm in the stick with what you know camp. But I am biased as I loved my stays at CSR. I am debating where to stay on my next trip in December. I would like to try POFQ but it will probably be excluded from the free dining promo, if it comes out.

 

[ChasingLeslie]

Looked at CBR last night after one of you mentioned it's been refurb-ed. The rooms look nicer than previously. Makes me a bit more willing to consider it again. Does anyone really recommend it? Or recommend it over CSR or POR? Again, easy busing would be our biggest thing.

If easy busing is your biggest thing, I don't think you'd like the seven bus stops at CBR.

 

[mevelandry]

We've loved CSR the first time... During a split stay, we've started with POR (beautiful) after that CSR looked really dated (they need a relooking!) and the resort not as charming to us. Once we left CSR we went directly to CBR, it was so much better (especially with the new refurbished rooms!).

When we stayed at POR, we've had excellent bus service. Not as good at CBR but still not bad.

 

[rangerxenos]

We also LOVED CSR when we stayed there in December of 2013. I actually looked at trying to book it again last November, but it was booked for the dates we wanted, so we ended up at POR. POR was really nice, but I ended up disappointed, it didn't measure up to CSR in my mind. I had to laugh when you mentioned that you did not like the food court at CSR -- DH and I loved it when we were there, but did not care for the menu at Maya Grill, so we never ate there. I was very unhappy with the food court at POR, the quality was AWFUL! We loved Boatwright's, though!

I'm headed back in a couple of weeks, and actually wanted to stay at CSR, but it was booked for our dates, AGAIN! We then decided to splurge on AKL, I hope we are not disappointed!

 

[dansdad]

Looked at CBR last night after one of you mentioned it's been refurb-ed. The rooms look nicer than previously. Makes me a bit more willing to consider it again. Does anyone really recommend it? Or recommend it over CSR or POR? Again, easy busing would be our biggest thing.

We were big POR fans until we had to switch over to CBR for Free Dining years ago. We haven't been able to go back to POR since. We just fell in love with CBR and it's our favorite moderate. The bus service has always been good for us, and we're always there during Free Dining and its at capacity. Every village has its own bus stop so you will have one close to you no matter where you are. Much shorter walks to the bus stop than we used to have at POR.

 

[tstottle]

Hi! As far as the DDP if you need to be flexible and make your plans as you go, I would say that is another strike against it. Do you really want to spend a lot of time trying or waiting to get a TS table without an ADR so you can use your credit? We like to be in the parks too, and riding rides, which means flexibility and just eating when you are hungry and what you feel like! We only like TS for a nice early dinner/rest, but we don't like to plan ahead where we will be, at all. The gift card is a nice idea for payment.

On our POR stay we had no issue with the buses, and we go in the summer. I'm tempted to say that overall the bus service for everywhere is the same, with some ups and some downs all over the place because so many people are using the service. But it is a good point about 7 bus stops at CBR...never been there, but that would bug me personally. We did not overly love the food court at POR, but I only post this because you will get opinions every which way about every place, and I think overall they are all generally the same level of quality and just depends on peoples' tastes! So don't let a couple of bad reviews scare you, but if they are ALL bad, that's a different story!

I think that CSR has been refurbed in recent years so the poster who posted that it looked dated after their POR stay, that may have changed now. If easy busing is your thing, after reviewing all mods on this board for my decision I would say that CSR is your winner. But I bet it won't be terribly different if you try another one because you want to try something new!

 

[GrumpyBelle]

I would try another resort. Although we do have a favorite, we enjoy staying at others as well for different reasons.

 

[ZehnJahren]

I have to say that trying a new resort is part of the fun for me! I've found something I really enjoyed at every resort I've stayed at.

When it comes to the mods, I've only stayed POFQ and really, really loved it. The small size, the fact that we were first on the bus and first off the bus, the theming, and the restaurant all were big plusses for me.

 

[pmaurer74]

Pepper market is one of my favorite CS on Disney property. Personally I prefer POR. We like the royal guest rooms but I did not like the pool as much. You can always do a split stay.

 

[Zombie]

We might have to give Pepper Market another chance if we do go back to CSR. Everyone's advice here has us so torn again. Ah!

Though, I think POR could really work out for us. POFQ was being favoured by one of the decision-makers due to it being small and having a first pick-up on the bus. But not having a quiet pool and not having a TS restaurant has likely put it out of contention and we'll focus on the possibility of either getting a discount or free dining at POR.

Free dining, however, is still being favoured over the discount (Actually maybe I'm missing something with the math but isn't free dining still of greater value than even if you get the max. 30% discount? For example the value of a single day of the dining plan -- aprox. $64/adult/night -- would still be greater than whatever 30% is off full rack rate? For example ... three 'Disney adult' aged diners would be about $190/night 'savings' if you get the dining plan but the 30% saving off full rack on a moderate wouldn't come near that? So even if you don't use all your dining credits ... for example, if you're only eating about $35 per day in food each ... aren't you still technically 'saving' more than what you'd be saving with the discount? Because say you get $50 off per night with the moderate but you're then paying about $100 out of pocket per day to feed the family -- and that's likely low-balling it at Disney prices -- that's still costing you more than the full rack rate to get the moderate with the free dining, which will give you the flexibility to have some more expensive meals. But maybe I'm really missing something in the math of the full 'is free dining a better deal than discounted rooms' debate?).

Anyways, since free dining is being favoured, if history repeats itself and it's not offered at POR, we'll likely be at CSR or CBR. I'm not sure how the other decision-maker feels about CBR. Doesn't seem as enamoured with it, though. I'm a bit more interested in it now that I've seen pics of the room refribs but I'm still not sure it's the right resort for us considering how big it is. The main pool looks awesome, though. But we tended to stick to the 'quiet pool' anyways last time. Less of a hike and water is water to our crew. We don't need all the fancy stuff. Though, that might be debatable this time after experiencing TL last trip. The big chatter is about if we'll do TL and BB this time or just one and which one it should be. So, the novelty of a water slide and splash pad might end up drawing us to the big main pool this summer/fall. I have a feeling the quiet pool might not seem as awesomely luxurious this time around after seeing some of the other elements and fun-ness of a water park!

A split stay is an interesting idea. I guess if we hate the one resort than at least we know we have the other one to look forward to!

We'd actually been playing a bit with doing a split stay at Universal Studios (or trying to stay exclusively at Universal Studios) but their hotels, parks and package options just don't look as appealing as Disney. There's still the interest in going over there, though. Maybe just for a day to check out WWHP. There's been some expressed interest in SeaWorld this time too.

What do you guys think? If you're going to end up spending 2-3 days at parks off-site is it better just to stay-off site? Or is it best to dedicate a Orlando vacation specifically to the 'dark side' and not attempt Disney at all on it? Basically -- avoid off-site if we're doing Disney again this time?

 

[tinkerbesh]

To decide about paying for DDP or not (as well as whether it's "worth" the savings over a room discount), do the math- figure out how much it costs per day to add on. (You said $64 a day)

Then go to allears.net and add up what you think you might eat in a day. If you think you'll spend that much every day, there's your decision, and vice versa.

Hope you have a magical trip!

 

[tstottle]

If you are going to US, I think it is DEFINITELY worth staying there! The hotels are nicer, closer (short walk), you get early entry and Express Pass if you stay in one of their three "deluxes." WWHP is amazing and definitely worth a see. We are going to both parks this year and staying at both hotels for the proximity and benefits (early hours). And we are only spending one day at Universal but to us it is absolutely worth switching hotels...when paying for tickets, we don't want to spend precious park hours driving between the two and we want the extra hours in the parks.

As for DDP, it matters how you eat. Like the above poster said. You can't really compare the pricing of DDP for your party vs the total of the room discount, because, if the DDP costs $1000 but your actual out of pocket non DDP eating costs would only be $700, you are only saving $700 not $1000. Good luck and either way you will have a great time!

 

[Zombie]

Well we talked about it more tonight. It sounds like right now the vote is to stay at CSR again. Also voting on getting fewer days of park tickets and just taking a taxi over to US one day. We'll see if that decision making still holds true if/when the FD promo releases. *fingers crossed*